July 27, 2025: No new Veeries this Year

There's sad news on the Veery nest, but let's start with something pleasant.  Checking the Evening Primrose flowers as promised, I did find a Primrose Moth one morning.  

Primrose Moth  (Schinia florida)

This insect is considered an "obligate species" because it is entirely dependent on one plant, the Evening Primrose.  Where there are no evening primrose plants, there are no primrose moths.  Adult moths spend their days hidden inside the closed-up blossom.  When the sun sets, the blossom open (thus the name "evening primrose") and the moths can move safely under the cover of dark to drink the flowers' nectar using their long proboscis.  Eventually they will lay their eggs inside a primrose bud for safe keeping.  When the larvae hatch they will feed on the primrose blossoms before burying into the ground to overwinter.  In the spring when the earth warms, the caterpillars emerge to feed on the primrose plant and the cycle repeats.  Thus the moth's entire life cycle is dependent on this single plant species.  [Ref:  A Study in Pink and Yellow, Gita Yingling, Sept 2024]  

It is a pretty insect.

We had an entertaining few minutes when a Gray Catbird came to our water feature for a bath.  It hopped in and out of the water a dozen times, splashing around and diving under to get all its feathers clean.  It looked like a wet rag by the time it was done.

Gray Catbird takes a bath.

Now the sad news.  Last year's veery nest was destroyed by a predator, so this year I used a trail camera to learn who might be the culprit if it happened again; unfortunately, it did:   A raccoon took out the veery nest.  The 'coon was happily using the trail for easy egress through the forest.

 Its sharp nose picked up the scent of the nest.  

From there it took just a moment for it to zero in on the nest and head straight to it.  It was quite tentative as it approached, not sure what it would find.  I love the way it held its left front paw up close to its chest, ready to defend against something larger than it hoped to find.  Note how close the mother bird let the raccoon get before it flew off.  The raccoon sniffed a bit, probed down into the nest, and then proceeded to gobble up the four little chicks.  You may want to skip the video if you don't want to see the deed take place.

A veery egg weighs about 2.5 grams; four new born chicks probably weigh about a third of an ounce.  That tiny bit of sustenance seems hardly meaningful to a 20 pound raccoon, but animals will take any bit of food they can find.  Before the raccoon found the nest, but after the eggs had hatched, the camera took hundreds pictures of mother flying back and forth all day long catching food and bringing it to her chicks.  Here are just a few, ending with a close up of her tending to her chicks.

Veeries will occasionally have two broods in a summer, and since the pair won't have to raise this brood, they may try again.  Let's hope they find a nesting site farther away from a trail.

On a much happier note, the loon chicks Spangle and Star are doing great.  Spangle has even caught her first fish!  Star is still a bit smaller, but it looks like he might be catching up.  Maybe with Spangle preoccupied with her fishing, Star is getting more fish from mom and dad.

Spangle and Star with a proud parent.  Photo by Deb Crowley.

To close on another pretty note, if you're out near a field or maybe just a quiet road side, be on the watch for Queen Anne's Lace - it's having a good summer.

Queen Anne's Lace.

Which the honey bees and other pollinators appreciate!

July 21, 2024: Loon Census

The 2024 loon census was held this past weekend and though there were no new chicks to be included there is an interesting development.  Michael Marion and I did the survey on the north half of the lake and at 8:00 when the count started there was a single loon floating near the vicinity of the northern territory nesting site, and very shortly a second loon came to join it.  The two of them appeared quite comfortable as they came together, and even started preening together.

I had initially thought being so close to the nesting island that one of them would be the breeding male so I took several pictures of them preening, and when I expanded them I in fact saw that one was our banded male. 

Northern territory male identified.

So it appears to me that he has already accepted a new mate, or at the least is evaluating a potential mate.  It also further makes we wonder if his prior mate was killed by this female which wanted to take over the male and its territory - after all, that's how the prior female came to be his mate.  Only the strongest genes survive.  After preening, the pair swam southward together further into Marion Cove.

After observing these two loons we moved slowly out of the cove, and at the north end of Sheep Island we saw four more loons swimming together into Marion Cove where the pair was.

Two of these are likely the southern nesting pair.

We watched the four of them swim down the cove and decided to follow along behind to see what would happen.  As soon as the first pair noticed them they turned around and swam directly north to meet them.  As they came together there was no altercation; instead the six of them grouped up and swam together.

We watched for a minute and then continued on to survey the rest of the lake before 9:00 when the survey ended.  We saw no other loons in the northern half of the lake.  At 9:00 we met to share notes with the Thorpes who had surveyed the southern half of the lake.  It turned out the six loons we saw were the only ones observed on the lake.  It seems certain to me at this point that breeding is over on Wicwas and there will be no chicks in 2024.  The two pairs will likely stay on the lake to defend their respective territories; there has been a lot of ongoing loon interactions with circle dances, head bobbing and wing-rowing chases around the lake.  It will be interesting to see what transpires next year and if a new pair will establish a third nesting territory on the lake.  After discussing the events both parties returned home and on the way we saw the six loons still together and now heading south down the main body of the lake.  

At least two non-resident loons being escorted by the locals.

There was a fascinating twist of nature found on the lake last week by Nancy Marion:  a blue-headed frog.

A pickerel frog with a case of Axanthism.  Photo by Nancy Marion.  

She (nor I) had never seen a creature like this and looking into it she learned that it's a rare condition occurring in a very small percentage of frogs caused by the frog's inability to create yellow pigment - a condition called axanthism.  (Researchers Michael Berns and Lowell Uhler from Cornell found that only 0.003% of the 2 million frogs studied had this condition.  [Wild Rhode Island, Summer 2021, Vol 14, Issue 3])  A frog's typical green color is the result of yellow and blue pigments combined to make green, but when yellow pigment is absent you get a blue frog.  I found only a few studies on the subject, the best was referenced in the article by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management [ibid].  Here's an excerpt from the article:

"Green skin in frogs is caused by three types of cells in the skin working together. Melanophores that contain melanin make the skin darker or lighter, just like in humans, iridophores are cells that reflect light, and xanthophores that contain carotenoids produce a yellow pigment.  After Berns and Uhler’s study was published, several other researchers postulated that the blue coloration was the result of lacking one of the three pigment cells located in the skin of the frogs."  

It appears Nancy came across a true rarity that will be reported to our own Department of Fish and Game!

I came a cross another amphibian on a hike on the Tripyramids this week, one that's not rare, but is nonetheless impressive in its size.

This toad was right in the middle of the hiking trail.

Another not-rare find on that hike was this snake sun bathing in the rocks on the north slide.

Garter snake on the north slide of Mt. Tripryamid.

Even though it's only a garter snake it gave me quite a startle because finding a snake in a dry, rocky, sun-exposed habitat, one's mind instantly thinks rattlesnake.  I know there are very few rattlers in New Hampshire, but there are some, and this is the perfect spot for them.

I saw quite a few more pretty dragonflies around the lake this week, but the insect I'll share today is this Primrose Moth I found in Linda's Evening Primrose flowers one morning.

Primrose Moth on ...  a primrose.

Evening Primrose bloom only at night when moths are active.  The sweet smell of the plant attracts the moths they need for pollination.

I'll end today with two more sights from Mt. Tripyramid:  finally a clear, less humid day, and a pretty mountain stream.

The Osceolas on the left with the Franconia Range in the distance.

Slide Brook

July 10, 2022: Round-leaved Sundew

Last week I noted this really neat plant growing on a log that many years ago came to rest along the shoreline in a marsh.

Round-leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia)

There are other plants growing on this old decaying tree including moss and some grasses.

A few other plants are taking up residence on this floating home.

But the round-leaved sundew is by far the most interesting in my opinion.  

I recognized the long thin hairs with drops of sticky liquid on them from plants such as the venus fly trap, which indicates it's a carnivorous plant.  It's an example of a plant that has adapted in unique ways to live in places where most plants can't survive.  It grows in highly acidic areas such as bogs and fens where the acidity precludes the growth of organisms (e.g. fungi) that usually generate the nitrogen plants need to survive.  So to live in this low-nitrogen environment, the round-leaved sundew adds animals to its diet - that is insects, mostly small flys and midges.  

The plant's prey is attracted to the round leaves and those eyelashes with thick tacky droplets on each one.

Does this look inviting to an insect?

When an insect lands and gets trapped the plant slowly closes up around it - though if the insect is struggling vigorously the plant speeds up its action.  Once it has enclosed its prey it secretes enzymes which digest the animal; it can even deliver an anesthetic that demobilizes its meal so it can't escape.  The plant uses the nitrogen in the animal to supplement the nitrogen that is lacking in the poor soil - or log - on which it lives.  Depending on the nitrogen level in the soil, nitrogen from animals makes up 25 to 50% of the sundew's nitrogen needs.  

These plants have tiny white blossoms that appear in July and August so I'll see if I can find their flowers later this summer.  Most of the information provided here came from an organization called Adirondacks Forever Wild; you can read their full report here.

In other news, both loon nests are still occupied, presumably getting closer to hatching out new chicks.  And I haven't seen any fawns yet, but this cute moment with a fawn and its mother was captured just south of the Lakes Region in Canterbury:

As soon as mom stops, junior goes looking for something to eat but mom seems to say, "not now, we have things to do."  Thank  you GP for sharing!

I've heard quite a few scarlet tanagers around the lake but haven't been able to see any - they sing loudly from high up in the tops of dense trees.  But I did catch a cedar waxwing on a morning paddle.

Cedar waxwing

It's a bird I don't see often.  

Lastly, it's time for the Evening Primrose to bloom.  

Evening Primrose

I wrote about this interesting biannual plant in my July 19th, 2020 post, including the many insects that live on it.  (As an interesting coincidence, that post also included a different carnivorous plant, the greater bladderwort.)  The only animal I found on this primrose was the aptly named Primrose Moth, a pretty, soft, pink and white insect.

Primrose Moth

The wonders and beauty of nature are endless.